stand on ceremony
stand on ceremony
To observe or adhere strictly or insistently to formalities or traditional protocol. We've all been acquainted already, so there's no need to stand on ceremony for this interview. Please, don't stand on ceremonies on my behalf—keep eating!
See also: ceremony, on, stand
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
stand on ceremony
to hold rigidly to protocol or formal manners. (Often in the negative.) Please help yourself to more. Don't stand on ceremony. We are very informal around here. Hardly anyone stands on ceremony.
See also: ceremony, on, stand
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
stand on ceremony
insist on the observance of formalities; behave formally.See also: ceremony, on, stand
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
stand on ˈceremony
(British English) behave in a very formal way: Come on — don’t stand on ceremony! Start eating or the food will get cold!See also: ceremony, on, stand
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
stand on ceremony, to
To behave very formally. This term, in which stand on has nothing to do with rising to one’s feet but rather means “to insist on,” dates from the nineteenth century. It appeared in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1798): “I never stand upon ceremony.”
See also: on, stand
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- stand on ceremony, to
- not stand on ceremony
- ceremony
- pomp and circumstance
- acquainted with (someone or something)
- not play that game
- in the interest of (something)
- in the interest of something
- talk turkey
- talk turkey, to